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Pacific Northwest ’73-’74: The Complete Recordings Boxed Set
WHAT'S INSIDE:
6 Complete Shows On 19 Discs
• 6/22/73 P.N.E. Coliseum, Vancouver, B.C.
• 6/24/73 Portland Memorial Coliseum, Portland, OR
• 6/26/73 Seattle Center Arena, Seattle, WA
• 5/17/74 P.N.E. Coliseum, Vancouver, B.C.
• 5/19/74 Portland Memorial Coliseum, Portland, OR
• 5/21/74 Hec Edmundson Pavilion, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Mastered in HDCD from the original master tapes by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering
Masters transferred and restored by Plangent Processes
Original Art by First Nations Artist Roy Henry Vickers
Photos by Richie Pechner
Individually Numbered, Limited Edition of 15,000
Includes an immediate digital download of "Eyes Of The World (P.N.E. Coliseum, Vancouver, Canada 5/17/74)"
"We were in the Pacific Northwest...between somewhere in Washington and some other where in Oregon. The road took us to the lip on a ridge, from where we could see around us for many miles in all directions … It was breathtaking to behold, but as we watched, we had a firm realization that we were witnessing something even more beautiful than our eyes could ever take in … Life causes life. Heaven and Earth dance in this way endlessly, and their child is the forest. And so there we were, epiphanously watching that grandest and most glorious dance of life—of which we are just a tiny part—awed by a magnificence without beginning, without end..."
Bob Weir, “Sell Headwaters—Everyone Wins,” San Francisco Chronicle
The Pacific Northwest offers up a rich feast of land, sky, and water. It is ripe with influences, abundant with symbols, deep and spirited. It should, therefore, come as no surprise that the Grateful Dead played some of their most inspired shows on these fertile grounds. It does, however, sometimes take a breath for the elements to re-align years later. It seems for us, they finally have and we are able to present not just a glimpse of the band's extraordinary exploratory tour through the region, but a two-tour bounty as the PACIFIC NORTHWEST ’73-’74: THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS.
For PACIFIC NORTHWEST ’73-’74: THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS, we've paired two short runs made up of six previously unreleased shows - P.N.E. Coliseum, Vancouver, B.C. (6/22/73); Portland Memorial Coliseum, Portland, OR (6/24/73); Seattle Center Arena, Seattle, WA (6/26/73); P.N.E. Coliseum, Vancouver, Canada (5/17/74); Portland Memorial Coliseum, Portland, OR (5/19/74); and Hec Edmundson Pavilion, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (5/21/74). Each show has been mastered in HDCD from the original master tapes by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering. The transfers from the masters were transferred and restored by Plangent Processes, further ensuring that this is the best, most authentic that these shows have ever sounded.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST ’73-’74: THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS comes in an ornate box created by Canada’s preeminent First Nations artist Roy Henry Vickers (more on this tremendous artist soon). To complement the music, the set also includes a 64-page book with an in-depth essay by Grateful Dead scholar Nicholas G. Meriwether and photos by Richie Pechner.
Due September 7th, this release is limited to 15,000 individually numbered copies and available exclusively from dead.net. You'll want to grab a copy while you can and sit back, relax, and enjoy all the exclusive content we'll be rolling out over the next few weeks.
Looking for something a little more byte-sized? The collection will also be available for HD digital download in FLAC and ALAC, exclusively at dead.net, on release day. You can pre-order it now too.
Get it while you can.
Holy Smokes
If you remove Veneta 8/27/72 and Houston 11/18/72 from contention, is there a better Playing in the Band than Berkeley 8/25/72? Pick my face up off of the floor.
RIP Brent
He said, "I gotta go, but my friends can stick around." The last public words I believe he spoke.
What a great song. The lyrics (for me at least) have a profound meaning. I think the meaning of the song is the best we can do is often just below the mark where it needs to be for our lives to be alright. But we do the best we can nonetheless. What other choice do we have.
http://songmeanings.com/songs/view/106061/
Holy Smokes - Best Playing In The Bands
Dick Latvala said 11-18-72 and 5-26-93 where the two best Playing In the Bands. You mentioned the former and I attended the latter (and it was amazing), so that's a pretty good place to start. I'll have to give the Dave's #24 version another spin.
A few other PITB's of note:
6-8-74 - A melty day in Oakland
8-6-74 - 40 minute Playin'->Scarlet->Playin'
5-21-74 - Got an epic one coming with the Pacific NW box!
7-29-88 - Crazy version at Laguna Seca - Included on the So Many Roads compilation
Best Playin's....
....I hear there's a really, really good one from Portland in this upcoming box. There was a great one in Monterey '88. I missed that Friday show. The talk of the lot the following day was that Playin'.
Favorite Playins
8/27/72 has to be the grandaddy of them all for all it's acid and sunshine soaked greatness.
5/26/72 was the night the song was truly born
4/22/77 is really fun as it might be the last first set blow out stand alone Playin', and the jam is fast, spacy and tight with a hint of the Tiger
Finally, the Playin' reprise from 5/19/77 is something totally to behold. Powerful.
Personally, Playins from 72-74 are some of my favorite jams from the bands entire career. With that being said, I feel like the song never really found it's groove, post hiatus. Sure there were some epic jams, but I always preferred the versions that stood alone and didn't drift off into something else. When they'd start sneaking back towards the finale and then finally explode--that is always a huge payoff for me.
one more good boxset
As I listened to the sounboard shows i was stunned by the consistency of the playing in these two little tours, for "small" songs and jams.I expect to find a place for this box in the library between the Europe 72 tour and Get shown the light, not less.Yes here are any of the best PITBand, and some good versions of the new songs from Mars Hotel. I feel sad about misssing the 30 trips Boxset wich was then out of Budget...Now one more good reason for September. Don't miss this one if you can afford!
Summer Jam 73
It's still fun to discuss the Summer Jam '73 event/happening at Watkins Glen New York here on this page, but here is another site for those interested in another opinion:
www.glenphotos.com/summerjam/
Unfortunately, the GD's portion of the main event falls a little flat for The-Powers-That-Be and many others, so it maybe a long time until it is officially released.
However, the unannounced (but scheduled by the event organizers) soundcheck mini-show on 7/27 was up-to-par.
Playin
The best playing is 11-18-72. This is the stuff legends are made of. This ( and I’ve said this before) is why Jerry Garcia is the greatest musician of them all. “He’s the very spirit personified of whatever is muddy river country at it’s core and screams up into the spheres. He really had no equal” (Bob Dylan at Jerry’s eulogy)
More Weight
Cool video Jim. I agree that's a good way to interpret the song. It's a deep, opaque song that could mean a lot of things to different people.
Think about this.
The Weight was the last song Brent played before he died of a drug overdose. Furthermore, he sang the verse about Carmen and the devil, walking side by side. It's Carmen who says to the narrator "I gotta go, but my friend can stick around." That's 'friend', singular, referring to the devil. What does the devil represent? Temptation, of course. Temptation, symbolized by the devil, is part of The Weight that we all bear as we go along about our lives. It always sticks around.
So the man closes a show singing a verse about the ever present burden of temptation which weighs upon us. Then dies of an overdose 3 days later.
William Faulkner couldn't have made up a more symbolic ending to a story.
Hendrix Freak
I’m in....stories and pictures of 73...please and thank you!
Bring it on hendrixfreak & dmcvt
Hey now hendrixfreak. I do recall your Watkins Glen post a while back (and let's not start counting growth rings)! I haven't figured out how to search for years-ago posts, so would love to read yours again. I promise to save it this time.
dmcvt's post last week is what got me started on this. dmcvt mentioned his planned anniversary look back at the Summer Jam in Racecourse, NY. That was JOO-LY!!!? 27 & 28, 1973... Can't wait for his tale and hopefully for an h-freak reprise.
Keith-Summer 1971
Yes, the recordings in 1971, certainly on these Summer shows, sound very raw compared to the recordings made in 1972. The recordings are a perfect match of songs and material. Another great version from this summer run is the Lovelight from 8/4/71 on the Road Trips bonus disc. Less of the country inflections prevalent in the Europe 1972 versions, or the extemporaneous versions from 1970-but with enough energy to light up a city.
Growth Rings
Ha..
There's quite a few lurkers here and people that read these posts that haven't even set up an account so never post.
If someone can recall an event that happened 45 years ago, they have every right to retell the tale. I wish my memories were so good..
Growth rings.. yes, if it were an oak or maple tree, it would be bigger than a house and towering high amount the other trees in the forest by now.
I was on a safari in Africa....
....when I saw two male lions having sex with each other out in the open. I thought to myself, "Have they no pride?"
best Playin's?
"I wouldn't know where to begin"
9/18/74
4/22/77
8/27/72
2/9/73
12/28/79
on and on
too many to list
Playin > Comes a Time > Playin
Great choices for best Playin's. I would add: 5/4/77 "Playin > Comes a Time > Playin" would be in my Top 5 Playin's, inseparable as it is from my favorite version of Comes a Time. The transition into Comes a Time is as good as any transition they ever did. Jerry's solos (especially the second one) in Comes a Time... oh. And the Playin is melodic, but also explores some deep scary space before letting you settle gently into the loving arms of Comes a Time.
EDIT - It was so good they skipped the encore. Even the Dead couldn't follow this, ha.
How about on the anniversary of the Glen?
Thanks for the invite to spew, particularly from the 'real' Oroboros, who is a master at the intact-memory, how-it-went-down-those-many-years-ago road tales.
I'm tied up in a work project right now, but by Friday, the 45th anniversary of the Glen soundcheck, I'll post the pics -- just two left now, from the 1st set ending Playing in the Band on 7-28 -- and provide my backstory to the show. Still quite, um, vivid.
That'll give me a chance to vape, crack open an IPA and tell a few tales at leisure.
Then I'll be forced to spend the weekend at a two-nighter with Derek & Susan at the Rocks and it 'looks like rain.' We'll handle it.
Watkins Glen pics
Looking through all those nostalgic black and whites, it struck me:
Where are all the fat people!
Seriously, look at all the slim and trim shirtless people in those pictures! Is it that folks were that much more active back then or not inclined to gorge and be lazy? Maybe it is just the average age of folks in the pics being that much younger. Lord knows when I was touring and going to festivals I had a lot less to haul around on my waist!
9/11/74 Alexandria Palace Seastones into Eyes of the World
If you want to go into some deep jazzy 1974 space listen to the 30 minute Seastone Jam before the Eyes, Bill and Jerry are there early and the rest of the band joins, so its more a jam than just Phil and Ned... Ned sits in the entire second set which is Eyes into Wharf Rat with more jamming. One of the most unique Eyes of the World intro with Ned on his electric piano.. and Keith on the piano!!!
SACD???
I would love to see this boxed set released in SACD. This format is far more accessible. As we all are aware, there are very few options for HDCD rendering devices, and I worry this will only worsen in time, as it appears Microsoft is disallowing companies from including HDCD decoding in their devices.
Metal Machine Music
Listening to the first five minutes of this takes me back. I bought it when it came out, round about 1975. Great sleeve notes, too-"My week beats your year".
Not that I can think of KeithFan // bob t Question
To answer your question directly, if you take Houston 11-18-72 and Vanetta 8-27-72 off the table, no I can't think of a better Playing In The Band than 8-25-72 Dave's Picks 24. You inspired me to put that one on. It rocks and Jerry is super loud. I don't recall this getting talked about too much when it was released but it really is something else isn't it? I'm going to look at the other ones from that week. Dick's Picks 23 and 36 plus Waterbury from 30 Trips Around the Sun.
bob t, I don't see Seastones or Eyes of the World on Dick's Picks 7. Where are you listening to that one? Anywhere I can download it?
Butch
Learn to do torrents and you can have everything.
http://bt.etree.org
Use utorrent free software.
Thanks guys
I will check them out.
I think Dave needs to get back to offering Bonus Discs for box sets. There is no motivation to preorder when there's half of the 15 thousand left still. People can just wait until the week of to order. Not that I would take that risk of missing out, but I think a lot more people would buy early. And I'd like a Bonus Disc :-) Watkins Glenn? I know the jam was already released on So Many Roads, but that's out of production now, so they could do it.
Best Playin's
For me this also hard but some of my go-tos are: 8/25/72 (Phil driven!)
8/27/72 (With the Bird Song, China>Rider and Dark Star, just tremendous)
9/27/72 (also Phil driven jamming!)
5/21/74 ( It’s a monster!)
10/16/74 (It’s also a monster!)
Really though this is not a comprehensive list, more just the ones I think a about when best of Playin’s are discussed. There are so many more, like for example in 1973... Plus several have mentioned 4/22/77 which is good and which is also the last 1st set Playin’.
Playin’ is also one of the songs that can be a stand alone big jam or be the launching point of a 2nd set jam sequence. The Other One can be compared to this but Playin’ I think outlasted The Other One in terms maintaining the jam vehicle/catalyst.
I know I keep referencing 1972 but someone else mentioned the 10/18/72 sow with the 2nd set sequence of Playin’ > Drums > Dark Star > Morning Dew > Playin’. I was made aware of this show only about a year ago. I think that sequence is kind of unique, especially for 1972. Yet it delivers because it has the 72' consistency and power we are all used to. Once we make the rounds of Dave’s Picks and other releases from various years (80s, 90s, etc...) I hope we can come back to this one. It’s a great show as it is but this jam sequence really elevates it to something special in my opinion. Certainly it is a great example of Playin’ being the jam vehicle/catalyst as it was to be for many years to come.
PITB Challenge
Wow.. I couldn't limit myself to a single page, hats off to you folks putting together comparisons and picks.
I have been getting into the PITB/UJB combos lately. I think the topic came up a couple months ago on one of these threads. They played the Previously the Warlocks/Hampton from 10/9/89 on the radio the other day and it sounded simply wonderful.
Set 2:
Playin' In The Band
Uncle John's Band
Playin' Reprise
Dark Star
Drums
Death Don't Have No Mercy
Dear Mr. Fantasy
Hey Jude Reprise
Throwin' Stones
Good Lovin'
Attics Of My Life
I listened to the Augusta combo within the last few weeks too. Fierce.
I do like the old PITB's the best though, especially '72 but any from '72 through '74 can knock you off your feet. I can get lost in these versions for seemingly days on end.
Still.. it could catch fire anytime from any year from '71 right up through the end. I put it right up there Dark Star and The Other One. One of the most powerful songs in their arsenal.
Ones that explode in the middle
Every one of the Europe 1972 Playing's are great. There's a real sense of something new being born, every time they take off in the jam. I love the way it just seems to explode in the middle. The 1973 versions are also great, but seem a bit calmer, somehow. I guess by then they knew it was a vehicle for exploration, and they got a bit more sophisticated about where they took it. I haven't played a 1974 version that recently, but from memory I would say that this approach continued and got even more refined as they headed off into an almost modern jazz like direction.
Definitely up there with Dark Star and The Other One.
Playing in Band
Jerry "erupts" in an unusual way at 4:30 on 4/14/72. I always pick this one if I am making a mix that I want to rock out on.
I did not remember too much about 8/25/72 Playing, and I put it on and Awooooo that one will get you barking at the moon!
Watkins Glen, Gillian and Dave, Phil & Tuna
I had Watkins Glen anniversary happening July 27/28, maybe I am missing a month somewhere, could easily happen... will post that account this weekend, its not lengthy adventure, tho I decided I had to remove certain references so it was reduced by half
:)
kidding
Will happily be celebrating it here in Vermont by heading up to Burlington tomorrow evening for an outdoor show with Phil & Friends on Lake Champlain waterfront Park. No Wild Turkey involved.
Will note a very tasty show last Friday night, at The Hopkins Center, Dartmouth, Hanover New Hamster with Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings. Fifth row center after dinner at a local Tibetan restaurant.
Gillian I knew from a few of her cds, was pretty much blown away by her partner Rawlings playing... great stuff... this was all acoustic with just a little PA reinforcement. Rawlins was pickin' his 1935 Epiphone Olympic which he found in an attic... beat up but Oh Boy did he make it sweet. Gillian played guitar, a little banjo and harmonica. Her singing was what had drawn me in years ago. Mod trad Appalachian folk plus plus if I had to tag it.
Highly recommended, they are touring through the summer.
and oh yeah, we just heard Jack and Jorma are coming this fall to a very cool acoustic space in central Vermont.
no offense intended, Hippychic,
I just remember this song from...sometime in the past
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILaTgQBKRbE
the chorus pops into my consciousness when I see your name.
like Cousins of the..."sons of the silent age" from Bowie does the same thing.
gotta listen to 8/25/72 again soon.
PITB Challenge
Headyversion has some interesting PITB top selections...http://headyversion.com/song/207/grateful-dead/playin-in-the-band/
yes it was sampled from the Smiths
probably with Morrissey's permission.
prepping for houseguests
cleaning my "dangerous" kitchen (ty2FZ)
Bob Dylan sings "I'm in the kitchen with the Tombstone Blues"
cool
11/26/82 Montego Bay
I always like it just for the fact that they played in Jamaica!!! Very reggae Scarlet>Fire that they started playing when the sun was rising. Did any one out there attend??? bob t
daybreak on the land
My favorite is almost certainly 12-2-73 in large part because of the Space>MLBJ that ensues. One of my very favorite shows ever. But there are tons of incredible Playin's from 72-74.
From the "Brent and beyond" era i think the Playin' from Laguna Sececa '88 is far and away the best. YMMV.
Playing in the Band
I'll play. 12/1/73 Boston. There's an Uncle John's Band in between. Great stuff. Uncle Gary sent me that one. Uncle Gary is the coolest dude this side of the moon.
I used to really be into the one from live at the Cow Palace New Year's 1976. I haven't listened to it in a while. I'll bet it's still good.
8/25/72 DaP 24 - now there's a scorcher. With the exception of August 27th 1972 and November 18th 1972, this might be in the running for best. Bobby is nice and loud too, and really keeps it rocking with his between the beat chops and slices. As someone mentioned, Phil drives this thing, and he has a heavy foot. And of course Jerry with his Aligator wah wah (just listen to him bust out at the end of the jam section into the Playing reprise).
I'm also going to site a couple more post hiatus: DP 10 which is that December 77 winterland performance that has them doing the first China cat Rider since before Mickey came back. Also Dave's Picks 18. This one you don't want to miss as far as I'm concerned. Yeah it's mellow 76, but there's nothing wrong with that, no malware than a dark star or a bird song. Keith in Phil just leave this thing on incredibly with mesmerizing chords and notes and Billy Goats.
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